Lighter load for Ten newsreader Walden

VETERAN newsreader Mal Walden is scaling back his on-air role and will present Channel Ten's 5pm bulletins between Mondays and Thursdays only.

Sports reporter Stephen Quartermain will host on Fridays, sparking rumours he is being groomed to succeed Walden full-time.

But a network spokeswoman said Walden had no plans to quit. ''This is not a retirement,'' she said. ''Mal is one of the greats of the TV business … he is still very much at the forefront of [Ten news] in Melbourne.''

His four days of solo newsreading mean he will actually spend more time on camera than he did last year, when he shared hosting duties with Helen Kapalos. Kapalos was controversially sacked by the network in November before being hired by Channel Seven to host its Sydney and Melbourne versions of Today Tonight.

Walden's 52-year media career began in the early 1960s at a Warrnambool radio station. He has worked for all three commercial TV networks. In 1987, he was sacked from Channel Seven, then under the control of Fairfax. Angry viewers picketed the station and its ratings dropped to an asterisk - too small to measure. He has made no secret of his desire to ''wind down'', telling reporters in 2011 he planned to lighten his workload.

This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited.